'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Easter Egg Calls Back to His Wrestling Origins

Way before Seth Rollins, there was Spider-Man.

It was a long time ago that Peter Parker learned how great power came with great responsibility not from Tony Stark, but inside a wrestling ring. The new trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home has a little Easter egg in the background that references Spidey’s origin story as a pro wrestler.

Behind Happy is a poster advertising a wrestling match with Crusher Hogan. The signage promotes a $100 challenge to wrestle Crusher and last three minutes with him in the ring. The match takes place on “August 10,” coinciding with the publication of Amazing Fantasy #15, the very first appearance of Spider-Man.

This is a very fun Easter egg for a very simple reason: Spider-Man was a wrestler! In earlier versions of Spidey’s origin story, including the one seen in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire in 2002, Peter Parker tests his new spider powers against the pro wrestler Crusher Hogan.

In Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter’s ego begins to swell when his popularity in the ring starts to turn in a personal profit. When Spidey lets a thief escape because he’s only just looking “out for number one — that means ME!,” he quickly regrets it when that thief ends up killing his beloved Uncle Ben.

Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) in front of a poster for Crusher Hogan in 'Spider-Man: Far From Home.' I wonder if there's any relation?

The origin is repeated in Ultimate Spider-Man, written by Brian Michael Bendis, which emerged from a modern “alternate universe” canon that later served as direct inspiration for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In Ultimate Spider-Man, Peter again wrestles Crusher Hogan in the fictional “UCW” (published in 2000, the then-named WWF and the now-defunct WCW were the most popular pro wrestling promotions on television). The promoter turns Spidey into his star attraction, until he suspects Peter of stealing from his fat stack of petty cash.

In Raimi’s movie, Spider-Man is cheated out of the full $3,000 promised by the crooked promoter (who gives him, oddly enough, only $100).

The film echoes the Amazing Fantasy origin in that Peter again lets a thief go after they rob the promoter. When he finds that his Uncle Ben was murdered in a hit and run, Peter suits up to find the killer, only to realize it was the thief he let go not hours before.

After Raimi, Spidey’s origins as a pro wrestler vanished. In The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield, released in 2012, references to wrestling were limited to a brief moment when Peter falls into an abandoned wrestling arena, which inspires Peter to don a costume. Meanwhile, the MCU hasn’t had anything to do with pro wrestling at all besides a throwaway line from Michael Keaton’s Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

With Peter now fully grown into his role as Spider-Man, to even the point his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei, who by the way starred opposite Mickey Rourke in 2008’s The Wrestler) is cool with it, it’s unlikely that Peter will ever get to step in the ring again. But at least the MCU is giving this one final nod before Peter ends up doing something else, like, UFC.